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How to play marbles: the classic rules

Marble Rumble is a screen game, but it borrows from one of the oldest playground games there is. This is how the real thing is played.

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What you need

• A handful of ordinary marbles each, about the size of a fingertip.
• One larger marble each to shoot with, called a shooter or taw.
• A circle: chalk on a pavement, string on a carpet, or a line scratched in the dirt.

How to shoot

Rest at least one knuckle on the ground, tuck the shooter into the crook of your first finger and flick it out with your thumb. This is called shooting "knuckle down". Rolling or throwing the marble is not allowed in the formal game.

Ringer

Ringer is the game played at the National Marbles Tournament in the United States.

1. Draw a ring 10 feet across.
2. Place 13 marbles in a cross at the centre.
3. Players take turns shooting from outside the ring, trying to knock marbles out of it.
4. If you knock a marble out and your shooter stays inside the ring, you shoot again from where it stopped.
5. If you miss, or your shooter leaves the ring, your turn ends.
6. The first player to knock out 7 marbles wins.

Simpler games for younger players

Ring taw

Everyone puts the same number of marbles in a small circle. Take turns shooting from a line a few steps away. You keep whatever you knock out, for the length of the game.

Hole games

Dig a shallow hole or put down a cup on its side. Take turns shooting from a line; the first to get a marble in wins the round. Marble Rumble’s Hole in One mode is a version of this.

Knock-out

One player rolls a marble out. The next tries to hit it. Hit it and you score a point; miss and yours becomes the target. Last Marble Standing grew from the same idea.

"Keepsies" and "friendlies"

Agree before you start. In keepsies the winner keeps the marbles they knock out. In friendlies everyone takes their own marbles home. Friendlies avoids tears.